Commercial Construction 2018 Trends

1) innovations on past improvements, such as better technology and offsite construction, and
2) some new trends, like a focus on resiliency after the damaging hurricane season.

Technological Badges And Sensors
New wearables that monitor heart rate, bodily rotation, external temperature, and other physical factors can detect danger before it’s too late. Some sensor empowered products in construction are gloves, helmets, wrist watches, goggles and utility vests. For example, a built-in gyroscope can measure the user’s angular velocity or alert supervisors when someone falls. Or an injured worker could press a button to request immediate help.

Drones Simplify And Maximize
Commercial drone technology has been popular since 2010. In construction, drones can fly around a building to collect data and complete inspections. Surveyors use drones for 3D mapping so that laborers don’t have to work on extreme heights and risk injuries. Some companies use them to showcase project progress for clients.

Workforce Shortage
The U.S. private housing sector has an increased demand for new homes, but 73% of firms are having difficulty recruiting qualified laborers, according to an Associated General Contractors survey. More ‘baby boomers” are retiring and less young people are replacing them. Framing crews, rough and finished carpenters are the hardest areas to fulfill; as a result, contractors take longer to finish projects.

Initiatives To Learn The Skilled Trades
A 2017 survey by National Association of Home Builders found that only 3% of young adults wanted to pursue construction based careers. Millennials often perceive the skilled trades as a “dead end” career. To combat the stigma, many contractors partner with organizations to educate middle and high school students about the high-end technology used in the trades and how rewarding the work can be. Apprentices can gain hands-on, paid experience in construction and are the first considered for full-time employment upon finishing apprenticeships.

Prefabrication And Offsite Construction Continue
The industry is turning to alternative construction methods to make up for the short supply of workers. For example, MEP racks — 20- to 30-foot panels that are pre-fitted with ductwork, piping and raceways — allow contractors to make their final connections more quickly on the job site and require up to 50% less labor. Increased use of modular construction in 2018 and beyond could also reduce the need for additional workers; offsite construction can absorb up to 60% of a projects labor requirements.

Resiliency Encourages More Green Building
Resiliency is set to be one of the construction industry’s watchwords for 2018 after last year’s onslaught of hurricanes, heat waves, cold waves, flooding, tornadoes, and wildfires. As we’ve seen in Houston, the damage from Hurricane Harvey left many families to rebuild: a reminder of how important it is to use quality building materials. To recover, many local governments have taken a “resilient” approach to withstand the elements of nature with “green building” with initiatives that are focused on funding infrastructure improvements. Rather than throwing up duplicate replacement structures, more owners will likely demand resilient site and structure features including adaptive design for extreme weather events.